Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view
The present paper retraces, in an ethno-historical perspective, the genesis of the oriented, elliptic, simplistic and reductive representation of the Eskimos in the Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach (historical, anthropological and textual, as well), t...
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Società Italiana di Antropologia Culturale (SIAC)
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ftunicagliariojs:oai:ojs.unica.it:article/1767 2023-05-15T16:07:01+02:00 Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view Les “Esquimaux des Lumières”: Archéologie d’un regard entravé Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia 2015-06-28 application/pdf https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767 https://doi.org/10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 fra fre Società Italiana di Antropologia Culturale (SIAC) https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767/1476 https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767 doi:10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 Anuac; Vol 3 No 1 (2014); 1-19 Anuac; V. 3 N. 1 (2014); 1-19 2239-625X info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion "Peer-reviewed essays" 2015 ftunicagliariojs https://doi.org/10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 2021-03-16T23:18:40Z The present paper retraces, in an ethno-historical perspective, the genesis of the oriented, elliptic, simplistic and reductive representation of the Eskimos in the Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach (historical, anthropological and textual, as well), the paper wonders upon the mechanisms which have governed the construction of the Eskimos’ image, and deciphers them considering the philosophical challenges and the ideological conditioning of the Century of Lights. The Eskimos’ image conveyed by the Encyclopaedia emphasizes their bestiality and primitivism, to stick them as the prototype of the savagery, the personification of a degenerated and shy humanity of the borders. The image of the Inuit - stereotyped, preformed and caricatured - is built through bias, omissions, and generalizations. It is intended to present them as fully antonymic to civilisation. In the Diderot and Chevalier de Jaucourt’s writing, the fierce and anthropophagic Inuit are the archetypal symbol of an extreme and terrifying anthropological difference which is the outcome of a geographical and climatic determinism. Far away the highly idealized and aesthetically-oriented image of the Good Savage, the Eskimos show-up in the writing of the Century of Lights‟ scholars a borderline humanity, deprived of any culture mark, but, nevertheless belonging to the human family. The present paper retraces, in an ethno-historical perspective, the genesis of the oriented, elliptic, simplistic and reductive representation of the Eskimos in the Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach (historical, anthropological and textual, as well), the paper wonders upon the mechanisms which have governed the construction of the Eskimos’ image, and deciphers them considering the philosophical challenges and the ideological conditioning of the Century of Lights. The Eskimos’ image conveyed by the Encyclopaedia emphasizes their bestiality and primitivism, to stick them as the prototype of the savagery, the personification of a degenerated and shy humanity of the borders. The image of the Inuit - stereotyped, preformed and caricatured - is built through bias, omissions, and generalizations. It is intended to present them as fully antonymic to civilisation. In the Diderot and Chevalier de Jaucourt’s writing, the fierce and anthropophagic Inuit are the archetypal symbol of an extreme and terrifying anthropological difference which is the outcome of a geographical and climatic determinism. Far away the highly idealized and aesthetically-oriented image of the Good Savage, the Eskimos show-up in the writing of the Century of Lights‟ scholars a borderline humanity, deprived of any culture mark, but, nevertheless belonging to the human family. Article in Journal/Newspaper eskimo* esquimaux inuit Università di Cagliari: UniCA Open Journals Chevalier ENVELOPE(-57.831,-57.831,51.500,51.500) |
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Open Polar |
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Università di Cagliari: UniCA Open Journals |
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ftunicagliariojs |
language |
French |
description |
The present paper retraces, in an ethno-historical perspective, the genesis of the oriented, elliptic, simplistic and reductive representation of the Eskimos in the Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach (historical, anthropological and textual, as well), the paper wonders upon the mechanisms which have governed the construction of the Eskimos’ image, and deciphers them considering the philosophical challenges and the ideological conditioning of the Century of Lights. The Eskimos’ image conveyed by the Encyclopaedia emphasizes their bestiality and primitivism, to stick them as the prototype of the savagery, the personification of a degenerated and shy humanity of the borders. The image of the Inuit - stereotyped, preformed and caricatured - is built through bias, omissions, and generalizations. It is intended to present them as fully antonymic to civilisation. In the Diderot and Chevalier de Jaucourt’s writing, the fierce and anthropophagic Inuit are the archetypal symbol of an extreme and terrifying anthropological difference which is the outcome of a geographical and climatic determinism. Far away the highly idealized and aesthetically-oriented image of the Good Savage, the Eskimos show-up in the writing of the Century of Lights‟ scholars a borderline humanity, deprived of any culture mark, but, nevertheless belonging to the human family. The present paper retraces, in an ethno-historical perspective, the genesis of the oriented, elliptic, simplistic and reductive representation of the Eskimos in the Diderot & d’Alembert’s Encyclopaedia. Adopting an inter-disciplinary approach (historical, anthropological and textual, as well), the paper wonders upon the mechanisms which have governed the construction of the Eskimos’ image, and deciphers them considering the philosophical challenges and the ideological conditioning of the Century of Lights. The Eskimos’ image conveyed by the Encyclopaedia emphasizes their bestiality and primitivism, to stick them as the prototype of the savagery, the personification of a degenerated and shy humanity of the borders. The image of the Inuit - stereotyped, preformed and caricatured - is built through bias, omissions, and generalizations. It is intended to present them as fully antonymic to civilisation. In the Diderot and Chevalier de Jaucourt’s writing, the fierce and anthropophagic Inuit are the archetypal symbol of an extreme and terrifying anthropological difference which is the outcome of a geographical and climatic determinism. Far away the highly idealized and aesthetically-oriented image of the Good Savage, the Eskimos show-up in the writing of the Century of Lights‟ scholars a borderline humanity, deprived of any culture mark, but, nevertheless belonging to the human family. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia |
spellingShingle |
Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
author_facet |
Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia |
author_sort |
Bogliolo Bruna, Giulia |
title |
Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
title_short |
Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
title_full |
Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
title_fullStr |
Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
title_full_unstemmed |
Eskimos Enlightenment: Archeology of a clumsy view |
title_sort |
eskimos enlightenment: archeology of a clumsy view |
publisher |
Società Italiana di Antropologia Culturale (SIAC) |
publishDate |
2015 |
url |
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767 https://doi.org/10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-57.831,-57.831,51.500,51.500) |
geographic |
Chevalier |
geographic_facet |
Chevalier |
genre |
eskimo* esquimaux inuit |
genre_facet |
eskimo* esquimaux inuit |
op_source |
Anuac; Vol 3 No 1 (2014); 1-19 Anuac; V. 3 N. 1 (2014); 1-19 2239-625X |
op_relation |
https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767/1476 https://ojs.unica.it/index.php/anuac/article/view/1767 doi:10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.7340/anuac2239-625X-147 |
_version_ |
1766403032656904192 |